How to markup and send a photo in iOS Messages

You know you can send pictures within the Messages app in iOS 11, but there’s a couple of levels of depth to it—including Markup features—that I wager many Messages users have rarely found.

In a conversation, tap the Camera icon.

A tiny live preview appears with a shutter button, as well as images from your library at right.

Tap Camera.

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Now you have a full-screen camera option, just as if you were using the Camera app. Take your picture.

You will now see a screen you might never have noticed before: at the top it has Cancel and Done links; at the bottom, Markup, Retake, and Edit. Tap Markup.

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iOS presents you with some simple tools for selecting color, magnifying an area of the image, or adding text.

When you’re finished, tap Save, then tap Done.

Now you can send that photo. The one missing element? You can’t save the image with your markup! You have to send it first, after which point, you can use the Share option for saving or sending elsewhere.